The victorious Springboks touched down at OR Tambo International Airport this morning to be greeted by thousands of South Africans from across the country. The scenes were amazing as people from all walks of life all joined together to welcome home their heroes. The question now is, what next for the Springboks?
It looks almost certain that coach Jake White will not renew his contract with SA Rugby at the end of the year. He says he is going to take sometime off and think about his next move and not make an emotional decision. To me that means he will not coach the Springboks again as many people would want him to do so. Continuing as coach will be an emotional decision by the World Cup winning coach. Jake White has endured lots of criticism in his time as head coach and surely he will not want to go through it again for another 4 years. Reports this morning stemming from Australia suggest that the Australia Rugby Union (ARU) will consider an application from Jake White for their vacant head coach position.
This leaves two critical questions regarding the future of South Africa rugby: Who will be the next head coach if Jake White decides to leave and secondly, how will the proposed plans of ‘transformation’ in South Africa rugby impact the team?
The issue of transformation in South Africa rugby has been on tables for many years now. There is a call for more people of colour to be included in the Springbok team. In 1995 there was only one person of colour in the starting 15 which was Chester Williams. Fast forward 12 years and there were two players of colour in the starting 15 in the Final this past weekend: Brian Habana and JP Pietersen. The issue is that some people believe that there should be more people of colour in the Springbok team in order to represent the number of people of colour in South Africa.
My take on this is that rugby in South Africa is still relatively a sport for the ‘white’ people. As much as people may want to see more people of colour in the Springboks, it will not happen anytime soon if the team is picked purely on the basis of merit and who is the best player in the country for a particular position. The best players are white. They have the ‘resources’ to be great rugby players. They start playing the game at an early age, they have the advantages of eating suitable diets that allow them to be in great physical shape in order to play the game and have access to gymnasiums in which they can better they own physical conditions in preparation to be great rugby players. Most people of colour across the country do not have access to great diets and gyms and thus it will be very difficult for them to become great rugby players. So for the majority of people of colour in South Africa to be picked for the Springboks on merit will be difficult until they have exposure to the same ‘resources’ as the white rugby players at an early age in their lives.
Yes it would be nice to see more people of colour in the Springbok team but only if they are picked on merit. How would the country feel if 10 out of the starting 15 players were people of colour but not the best players in the country and then the team goes on and looses? South Africa is now enjoying the well deserved honour of being World Champions because the best team to represent South Africa was picked. No one would argue if the best players in South Africa were people of colour but for now that is not the reality but if ‘transformation’ plans are put into place starting at grass roots level, we could see more people of colour in the Springbok team that will win the World Cup in 2011.
There was Chester Williams in 1995, Brian Habana and JP Pietersen in 2007, why not have five, six or more players of colour winning the World Cup again in 2011. Let us hope that those responsible to not make decisions that spoil South Africa rugby. South Africa are World Champions and should provide a team that can maintain that status for many years to come.